Mt Baker - Day 80 ( tying the knot)

Twenty seven years ago this week, my wife and I "tied the knot" It seems only fitting today we revisit the subject (albeit, from a slightly different perspective). Today, there is a also a twist in the tail. My wife warned me this morning about my poor spelling habits in writing a blog that becomes an open record. She also wondered about including stories like the one I concluded yesterday. She noted, for instance, the word veil in these recent blogs had about four different spellings throughout. Well today's tail (that's right, Nancy, tail and not tale) may be more understandable. This tail is actually the end of a rope. The twist that I refer to is about is how one turns and guide it into a particular configuration thereby serving a very specific purpose. We are talking about a climber's lifeline - his knots. I have actually spent a lot of time on this (not the blog! but the knot!). For the last month or so, I have on a periodic basis while sitting in front of the TV, brought with me the necessary tools - two pieces of rope, a book called Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills, and my reading glasses. I then begin to weave. I sort of see it as the image of some elderly spinster sitting peacefully in her rocking chair, quietly knitting, eyes focused but hearing all else around her. The issue for me is that these twists for which I am practicing need to be life saving.

I have learned form the above textbook as well as from several climbing instructors on various mountains that there are about 8-10 knots and hitches with which I will need to be proficient. I even have a DVD specifically dedicated to knot tying provided through a link with Alpine Ascents, Inc. The knot usually first mentioned in all these sources and the one most commonly used is the figure 8. If you have ever been rock climbing, that is the one you are tested for proficiency if you are to climb in an unsupervised setting. It is the knot you fasten to your harness that places you "on-belay", ie, the one that attaches you to rope to which you literally entrust your life. That rope leads to the belayer who uses a figure 8 knot tied to his harness for purposes of attaching to an anchor. For those who may not know, the belayer is your guardian in case of a fall, the individual who controls your rate of descent. The figure 8 knot will tie each of my climbing team to a common rope as we pass through crevasse fields within the Easton glacier route of Mt Baker. One would think that a surgeon should have no problem mastering this and other knots and hitches. That is probably why it is always a standard joke to my climbing colleagues as they see how often I made a mess of it. Arguably, the nicest thing about my knots in the OR that avoids this aggravating ridicule is that they are performed with material too fine for anyone to really notice. I am up to proficiency in about four knots to date. Can tie the figure 8 in either hand and can tie it in about three different ways. Would I trust my life with it? Well, there is only one answer to that one. I'm going to half to.